Refrigerator and compartment device therefor



March 5, 1929. o. STRUFE REFRIGERATOR AND COMPARTMENT DEVICE'THEREFORFiled July 11, 1927 l a i PATENT OFFICE.

" DTTO STEUFE, OFDWIGH'I, ILLINOIS.

REFRIGERATOR AND GOMFARTMENT DEVICE THEREFOR.

Application filed m 11,

These improvements are primarily in refrigerators of the kindshown by myPatent 1,617,552 of February 15, 1927, accordingtowhich the refrigeratorbody has an extension adapted to pass into an opening in the buildingwall for outside icing and other advantages. The present improvementscomprehend a special compartment preferably within the ice chamber ofthe refriger- 0 ator. Ubjects are to facilitate the storage from theinside through a doorway of the and withdrawal of the food products; toprovide convenient means for the delivery. of food and other articlesinto the building from the outside, and for ready accessibilityrefrigerator installation; to provide such means in close associationwith the heatabstracting element-deem the type of re frigeratorshown; toprovide means in the same connection whereby one making deliveries fromthe outside will not have access to the food products or whatever may beplaced within the receptacle from the inside; to provide suchadvantagesbymeans of a receptacle which may readily be removed as for cleaning orin special instances to accommodate a greater quantity of ice or otherobjects or articles in" the ice box; and toprovide for adjustability ofpartition means within the receptacle to vary the capacity of respectiveportions of the container. Other objects. and advantages will appearhereinafter. 1

In the accompanying drawings, forming apart hereof, Figure 1 is avertical section through a refrigerator of the kind shown in my saidpatent, this section being on the line 1-l of- Fig. a}; Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section through the refrigerator as on the line 22 of Fig. 1;3 is an enlarged section through the container or receptacle as on theline 33 of Fig. 4; Fig. 4: shows a fragmentary section of refrigeratorparts and a cross-section through the container as on the line 1-4l ofFig. 1; Fig. 5 is a perspective of the open-top drawer which slideswithin the main housing part of the receptacle or container; Fig.- 6 isan enlarged fragmentary sectional detail as on the line ti -6 of'Fig 5;Fig. (is a fragmentary view of the connection means for supporting thedeviceas viewed from and in the direction of the arrews 7-7 of Fig. 4;and Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional-view as on the line 8-8 of Fi 7.-

The refrigerator body fq has an extension 1927. Serial No. 204,728.

11 passing-through or substantially through the building wall 12 shownby dotted lines in Fig. 1. The ice compartment has an inper door 18 andan outer door 14:. According to this type of refrigerator ice is detit)livered into the ice chamber through the door 14:, and this same doorltmay be used by-such tradesmen as the milkman and grocer for deliveringtheir respective commodities.

lit is customary for the housewife to pack around the ice'in the icechamber the bottles of milk,- dishes containing food, vegetables, etc.,to be kept cool. This practice has many objections, such as thateverything so positioned gets Wet, breakage and spillage due to icedislocations and the insecure foundation for bottles, dishes, etc. ofthe usually very uneven bottom of the ice compartment, and the necessityfor removing and replacing these articles at the time the ice chamber isto be filled with ice. rather unsanitary practice. One object of theseimprovements is to maintain the ice chamber clean and preserve the foodarticles against loss and damage.

The receptacle 20, Figs. 3 and a, is an open-ended housing-likestructure of sheet metal'having a fiat and normally horizontal bottom21-, vertical-side walls 22 and-23, and a top wall 24. Upper andlower'ventilation openings 25 and 26 provide for circulationof"air"within the receptacle, and further circulation is afiorded aroundthe open ends. These openings 25 and 26 are on the side facing the icein the ice chamber, and the pressed-out construction of the sheetmetal,providing what are usually called louvers, protects the interior of thereceptacle from the water of melted ice. The ice will often be packedfairly tightly in the ice chamber, with one cake on top of the other orwith small pieces piled thereon and against the receptacles, and thereceptacles should there It is a I Since the bottom of the icereceptacle is I usually quite irregular and slanting I re fer to supportthe receptaclein the re rigerator chamber at one of its side walls, asclearly to be. seen from Fig. 4, and to support it for ready rtnovability, and also larged part through which the head 33 may pass anda constricted part more closely fitting the shank 34 of the stud. InFig. 7 parts have been omitted at the right-hand end to show theconstruction of this slot 35, and it will be observed that I provide anupward enlargement of the slot at 35 so that the receptacle will becomesomewhat locked in its normal position, subject to lon gitudinalmovement in one direction under a little pressure.

It is to be noted that these slots 35 are so directed that thereceptacle must be moved bodily in the direction of the inner door 13 tobring the fixedly-secured heads 35 of the studs opposite theenlargements at the ends of the slots respectively. The receptacle is solong that its inner end is so close to the door 13 that when this dooris closed the receptacle may not be moved far enough in ward fordetachment, and, accordingly, one

opening the outer door 14 may not remove the receptacle. i

In order that the receptacle may hang with its side walls vertical Ihave shown projections 36 (Figs. 1 and 4) pressed in the metal at thelower portion of the side wall 23 to act as spacing elements tocompensate for the thickness of the bar 30.

WVithin the receptacle 20 and resting on the bottom wall 21 thereofthere is a shal low open-top drawer 40 shown complete in Fig. 5. It hasa bottom 41, shallow side walls 42, a rear end wall 43, and a front endwall 44. The front end wall extends later ally beyond the sides to serveas. a stop to prevent the drawer from being wlthdrawn in the directionof the, outer refrigerator door 14.

A vertical partition plate 45 restson the ,bottom of the drawer and ismade stable by a pair of triangular side extensions 46 bent over fromthe sheet metal of the partition 45. The bottom edges of theseextensions 46 serve as a base for the partition. This partition 45divides the drawer and also the hollow interior of the receptacle 20into two compartments. Fig. 4 shows that the partition 45 extends closeto the top wall 24 of the receptacle, and that its dimensions otherwiseare such as to protect what may be on the inner side thereof.

. I have provided means for locking the partition in place and for itsadjustability in the drawer. These means comprise a plurality of holes4'? in the side walls 42, a pintle 48, secured as by riveting, on eachof the side extensions 46, these pintles projecting throughoppositely-disposed ones of the holes 47 in the side walls 42. Theseside extensions 46, being of sheet metal, may be sprung inward'by handsufficiently to release the pintles 48, whereupon the partition may beadjusted to..some other relative po sition in the tray or drawer.

In the use of the device tradesmen having access to the outer door 14may deliver milk, groceries, etc. intothe receptacle at one end and thehousewife on opening the inner door may remove such articles; and shecan put food articles into the inner end of the*receptacle where theywill receive the desired refrigeration, all while maintaining the icecompartment free of such articles. As illustrated and described hereinthe device preferablyincludes a sliding tray or drawer extending fromend to end of the receptacle and covering 1 substantially its entirebottom area, and in such case the articles would be delivered into thetray. The partition provides security for-the food articles placed intothe tray from the inner door v13. When the housewife desires to removewhat has been inserted in the outer compartment, or for a more freereference to what is in the inner compartmc fit, the drawer is pulledout to the desired extent, and may be withdrawn entirely, as forcleaning it and the inside of the receptacle without bodily removing thelatter.

In case of spillage from dishes or bottles placed in the tray therefrigerator as a whole is not soiled and contaminated thereby, as allsuch spillage remains in the tray, and the tray may readily be cleansed.

A valuable feature of the construction is that it may be made andinstalled quite chea 1y.

W ile this device would have advantages in otherco'nstruetions ofrefrigerator than the specific one shown, it is peculiarly beneficial inthat construction in view of its importance in connection with outsidedeliveries. j

' I contemplate as being included in these im rovements all suchvariations, changes an departures from what is thus specificallyillustrated and described as fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a refrigerator having walls forming a chamberprovided with an inner and an outer doorway for access thereto and adoor for each doorway, of means forming a housing-like open-endedreceptacle for food.articles in said chamber, the receptacle being ofsuch length and being so positioned that its ends are adhaving wallsforming a held in its normal position jacent to said doors doors areclosed.

2. The combination of claim 1 hereof in which said receptacle hasventilation openmgs.

3. The'combination of claim 1 hereof in which there are means holdingsaid receptacle readily removable upon a wall of the refrigeratorchamber.

' 4. The combination of claim 1 hereof in which said receptacle. is'readily'removably by means coacting-with the inner door and renderedopen. able for removal of the receptacle by opening saidinner door.

5. The combination with a refrigerator chamber provided with twooppositely-disposed doorways and a door for each thereof, of anopen-ended housing-like receptacle for food articles within the chamber,the receptacle being of such length and being so positioned that itsends are adjacent tosaid doors respectively when the doors are closed,and an open-top drawer in the lower portion of said receptacle.

6. The combination of claim 5 hereof in which said receptacle hasventilation open-- ings therein.

7 The combination of claim 5 hereof in which said drawer coverssubstantially the entire bottom area of the receptacle and has anupstanding partition dividing the receptacle into ment. 7

8. The combination of claim. 5 hereof in which there is an upstandingpartition carried by the drawer and dividing the receptacle into aforward and a rear compartment, said partition being mounted adjustablyto vary the size of said compartments.

9. The combination of claim 5 hereof in which said receptacle is mountedon a side wall of the ice chamber by means coaeting with the inner doorand which provide for ready removability of the receptacle only when theinner doorway is ope a forward'and a rear compartrespectively when theleased for removal.

10. A receptacle of the character described having a substantially flatbottom, u standing side Walls, and a top Wall, an being formed of sheetmetal, the receptacle being relatively long and of substantial width, anopen-top drawer occupying substantially the entire bottom portion of thereceptacle and being slidable therein and withdrawable in one directiononly, the drawer having shallow side walls.

11. The combination of claim 10 hereof in which said drawer has anupstanding partition provided 'with side extensions having bottom edgesforming a base and being adapted to yield inwardly under lateralpressure, one of. the side walls of the drawer having openingslongitudinally arranged to acconnnodate a pintle, a side extension ofthe partition having a pintle adapted to register successively with eachof said openings, the arrangement and construction providingthat thepartition may be adjusted longitudinally in the drawer and held by thepin'tle. Q

12. The combination with a refrigerator having walls, including sidewalls, forming an ice chamber provided with a door opening for accessand a door therefor, of a sheetmetal housing-like receptacle in saidchamher and extending substantially from front to rear thereof, thereceptacle being open at its front end adjacentto said door and beingadapted to contain articles of food.

13. The combination of claim 12 hereof in which there is a drawer in thereceptacle slidable in the direction of the refrigerator door.

1 1-. The combination of claim 12 hereof in which there are meansincluding a bayonet slot connection for holding said receptacle readilyremovably upon a side wall of the ice chamber, the ba onet slotconnection being arranged wherefiy the receptacle must be movedsubstantially horizontally to be reorrro STRUFE.

